BOARDMAN Looking for the road to love, guy tries a different route

Meeting women is the aim of the sign.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- Travelers in Boardman's busy shopping district are accustomed to well-lighted business signs and billboards displaying everything from store specials to anti-smoking messages, but one man is advertising something a little unusual: himself.
On the north side of U.S. Route 224 across from Southern Park Mall stands a sign asking all interested single women to contact an available 45-year-old professional white male. Austintown resident Denny Gallo said the sign is intended to put him in touch with new, interesting women in the area.
"I am just hoping to meet new women, new people. As opposed to the same old stale environment of meeting women, I thought I would take a brand-new approach that would bring me into a new market," said Gallo.
The billboard message went up about one week ago. Gallo said it is too soon to tell how successful the ad will be.
Closer to home: Gallo has tried other ways of meeting women such as singles dances and says he has been successful in meeting women out of town. The problem, he said, is he wants to meet interesting people a little closer to home.
Gallo said the idea to place a personal ad on a billboard came from a national news story he saw about a woman in Tennessee who had done the same thing and found it quite successful. So, he picked what he felt would be the busiest intersection in the area and approached the Lamar Advertising Co. with the idea.
"This will probably bring more attention to the sign company than to me, who knows. I am not sure at this point," Gallo said of the ad campaign. "I thought it would definitely draw attention."
Employees at the nearby Unlimited Electronics store said the sign certainly has gotten its fair amount of attention. John Gardner of Boardman and Joe Ellks said they initially thought the ad was either a joke or gimmick for some company, but they have seen several woman driving by slowly taking notice of the sign.
Ellks said one group of women had to slam on the brakes -- nearly rear-ending another car -- while looking up at the billboard.
"It definitely says the guy has money. We cannot afford to buy billboards and we've been in business for 16 years," said Dan Shehane, manager of Unlimited Electronics.
Got a deal: Gallo did not say what the six-week run is costing him, but he said the company did make him a great deal.
Bobby Soule, vice-president and general manager of Lamar, said an ad on that billboard typically runs about $80 per day, but in this case a deal was reached because the company had a 40-day window where no ad was scheduled to appear on the billboard.
Soule said it is hard to determine if this will lead to others using billboards as the road to romance but said it certainly has not happened too often in the past.
"I have been with Lamar for 12 years in seven different cities, and this is only the third time I have been involved with something like this. This is the first time it has been done in this market and at this office," he said.
For those who do choose to go that route, Soule said Lamar is not in the business of turning down ads but must be careful of what is put on its billboards.
jgoodwin@vindy.com